Music licensing is a rapidly growing and expanding market within the music industry, as well as in the more general categories of entertainment and communications. With large amounts of new media content on television, film and in new media like the web, mobile devices and more, there is a substantial increase in demand for hip, high quality and affordable music to enhance this content. Television has now become the number one place where people discover new music.
The process for licensing music is often extremely cumbersome. Complex negotiations had to take place between the media user, lawyers, agents and the artists. Even with far less media (i.e., fewer channels and fewer shows on each) it was an inefficient process to negotiate. We now live in a media saturated universe with over 1000 channels, media on the web and advertising in every imaginable place from taxicabs to bathroom kiosks. The concept of pre-licensed stock music developed from this, providing basic music to content producers.
Pre-licensed music is a good fit with network and cable business models because of the boom of reality programs that requires wall-to-wall music to help heighten the drama, comedy or tension of otherwise mundane events. This trend has spilled into every network and is the cornerstone of many networks. Many television shows are much more likely to use stock music as a source because sourcing music directly from a composer is too time consuming and expensive.
Pioneers in the stock music industry created simple delivery methods to accommodate the rapidly expanding media marketplace by using compact discs (CDs), hard drives and HTML pages to share music with clients. Media producers are (more and more) looking for increased speed in delivery, and now real-time delivery methods are becoming sought after. Additionally, content producers need to stand out from the saturated media markets and quality is making a comeback. The market wants everything: low cost, real-time speed and high quality.
As we move into the next wave of media that may allow user generated content to proliferate on the web, mobile devices and beyond, regulations may soon follow and there may be a need for pre-cleared music in this arena too. Soon, amateur content makers may need the same music licensing tools that the professionals have so that the content they create will not be in violation of copyright laws.
In the United States there are over 1,000 television channels producing tens of thousands of shows, 11,000 commercial radio stations, 1,200 feature films, tens of thousands of advertisements and millions of web content pieces. Each needs music or sound accompaniment. The two major rights organizations in the US (i.e., BMI and ASCAP) paid more than $1.4 billion in royalties in 2006. This figure is growing rapidly and projects to top $2 billion in 2010. As royalty regulations are put in place for web content this growth curve may continue to increase.
It is often the music producer who may be tasked with the role of identifying and locating the proper music for these television shows, radio programs, etc. In this way, music producers may be required to find appropriate music in order to meet quick deadlines and within tight budgets. Moreover, they often need to be able to immediately access the music to begin editing without worrying about licensing contracts or fees.